Undergarment.



N0- 83'7,5l6. PATENTED DEC. 4, 1906; G. B. STEPHENSON.

UNDERGARMENT.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 11. 1906'.

UTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 4, 1906.

Application filed January 11, 190!)- Serial No. 296,563.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLINTON B. STEPHEN- SON, a citizen of the United States, residing at South Bend, in the county of St. Joseph and State of Indiana, have inventedtnew and useful Improvements in Undergarments, of

' which the followin is a specification.

This invention rdlates to undergarments of that style known as the union suit, in

which the shirt and drawers are in onepiece or part; and the object is to provide a garment of this character with certain improvements or reinforcements which give 'addi tional protection for the vital parts of the body, especially the abdomen and posterior.

With these objects in view the invention consists in providing the shirt part of the garment at its lower end with lateral extensions which'cover the-hips, waist, and abdomen tion. F 4 is a vertica section of the gar-.

-' Making renewed reference to t line5 f and support and protect the latter.

\ It further consists in providing the drawers with a placket at each hip to rovide a flap which is detachably connected at the waistline at the back and covers the bottom or skirt portion of the shirt part;.and, further, the invention consists in the construction and combination of the various parts, fia s,

and extensions, all as will be more fully e-- scribed hereinafter, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and finally pointed out in the ap ended claims.

In t e drawings, Figure 1 is a front eleva- Ition of the garment with a portion broken away to show the abdominal supporter. Fig. 2 is a rear elevation. 3 is aside eleva to the neck, one edge being provided with buttonholes and the other with buttons, as indicatedat 3 in Fig. 1. The back of the arment is provided with plackets 4 4 at the 'ps, forming a fla 5, which covers the posterior, the up er e ge of the flap terminating in the waiste and provided with buttonholes to engage buttons on the shirt art as indicated at 6 in Figs. 2, 3, and 4. e shirt has a skirt portion 7, that underlaps the ap 5 of the drawers and extends down beottom,

neath the posterior, forming, with said flap, a double thickness, as shown'in 4. F om the sides of this skirt portion-'7 of-the s t part extend beltstra' s 8, which. may be either inte ral with t e skirt portion 7 or sewed or otherwise secured-to it. These beltstraps are of such length as to extend around and cover the hi s and abdomen, and when the free ends are astened' together in front of the abdomen they rovide an abdominal supporter which is disposed within the shirt art of the garment. The means for fastenmg the ends of this abdominal supporter is immaterial so far' as the invention is concerned; but the preferred fastening consists of straps 9, which pass through slits 10 in adjacent ends of the belt and engage buttons thereon, there bein several buttonholes in each strap, so that t e abdominal belt or su porter may be properly adjusted to t e wearer.

From the above description it will be seen that the body around the'hips, posterior, and abdomen is protected by a double thickness of material, inasmuch as the dependent skirt portion 7 of the shirt part 1 forms one thickness over the posterior, while the flap 5 of the drawers forms a second thickness over the posterior, and this flap may be detached or unbuttoned from the shirt part when occasion may require, the same being shown in a detached position in dotted lines in Fig. 4.

The double thicknesses around the -hips and over the abdomen are provided by means of the abdominal belt or stra 8 8, which extends from each side and slightly in the rear of the skirt portion of the shirt part, as shown in Fig. 5, the said belt forming one thickness for the abdomen and the front of the garment forming the other thickness for the abdomen.

To adjust the garment to the wearer, the latter inserts his limbs and body into the gar-' ment from the front, the fastening means 3 being unbuttoned. The abdominal belts are then brought around and fastened in front, as shown in Fig. 1. The rear flap 5 is then fastened to the shirt part at the waist, and

the front-fastening means 3 may then be connected: The garment may of course be.

removed by a reversal of these movements. Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by- Letters Patent, is 1. As a new article of manufacture, a union suit having its shirt part provided union snit having its shirt part provided with arear skirt portion, and an abdominal inside of the garment with their free ends ers, the upper rear portion of the drawers with belt-straps which are disposed on the covering the abdomen. o

2. As a new article of manufacture, a union suit having its shirt part provided with a rear skirt portion, and abdominal belts extending from-said skirt portion and adapted to be connected together at the front of the garment.

3.As a new article of manufacture, a

supporter connected to the said skirt portion and disposed on the inside of the garment.

4. As a new article: of manufacture, .aunion suit comprisinga shirt part and drawhaying a flap at approxiniatelyi thewai st and the lowerportion of theshirt part haying a skirt underlying the said flap and provided with abdominal belts, and

means tovfasten the ends of the abdominal shirt on the inside thereof and adapted to extend around and cover the abdomen, and

means to fasten the free ends'of said straps together at the front of the abdomen.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two subscribing wltnesses; p CLINTON B. STEPHENSON.

; Witnesses: GEORGE OL'rsoH,

T. J TEARNEY. 

